CNN announced this morning that Michael Ware had joined the netwok as a Baghdad based correspondent…

Michael Ware, the TIME magazine Baghdad bureau chief who gained renown for in-depth coverage of the insurgency in Iraq, will join CNN as a correspondent based in Baghdad, it was announced today by Tony Maddox, senior vice president of international newsgathering operations.

A frequent guest to CNN over the last five years, Ware becomes a full-time international correspondent providing news reports and analysis across all CNN networks. On CNN/U.S., Ware will be a regular contributor to Anderson Cooper 360° as well as appearing on other programs.

“Michael is one of the most accomplished correspondents working in Iraq. His exclusive stories and unique insights into the workings of the insurgency will increase the scope and depth of our reporting,” Maddox said. “He joins a fantastic CNN team of committed journalists in Baghdad, and we are very excited to have him as a full-time member of the CNN family.”

“Michael is one of the most unique voices covering the region, said Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. “He makes a complex, constantly-shifting story easy to follow.”

Ware began writing for TIME in 2001 with an assignment in the Solomon Islands and then one during the war in Afghanistan later that year. As coalition forces began preparations for war in 2003, Ware relocated to Iraq and became an embedded reporter with U.S. forces. He gained notice as one of the few Western journalists to travel to insurgent camps and report on that perspective of the war. He was also the only embedded journalist to cover the September 2005 assault on Tal Afar.